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Tigers' value, income higher in 2013, Forbes report finds

Photo by Bill Shea / Crain's Detroit Business
Tigers fans wait in line for tickets.

Correction appended

The Detroit Tigers are worth $680 million — and made money last season.

That's at least according to the latest valuation estimate, published this week, by Forbes.com. The team itself never talks about its financials.

The value of the team increased 5.75 percent from last year’s $643 million estimate. The values don’t represent a sales price — a team is worth whatever someone pays for it.

The $680 million valuation is 15th among Major League Baseball’s 30 teams.

The financial news site said the Tigers had $7.5 million in operating income last year on a record $262 million in revenue — driven in part by $96 million in gate receipts in 2013.

That’s a departure from recent years: Forbes estimated the Tigers lost $400,000 in operating income on $238 million in revenue for the 2012 season. Forbes estimated Detroit to have made $8.5 million in operating income after the 2011 season, but that was after three straight seasons in the red. The Tigers lost an estimated $29.1 million for the 2010 season, $29.5 million in 2009 and $26.3 million in 2008, Forbes reported. Those years coincide with the team’s significant increase in player payroll spending.

Forbes defines operating income as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.

The New York Yankees topped the valuation list at $2.5 billion, and were one of five teams estimated to be worth $1 billion or more. At the bottom are the Tampa Bay Rays at $485 million.

The Tigers were eighth in revenue. The Yankees were tops at $461 million, Forbes said, but that team lost $9.1 million in operating income.

The Dodgers lost an estimated $80.9 million in operating income, one of 11 clubs in the red, according to Forbes.

Detroit was 14th in operating income. The St. Louis Cardinals led Forbes’ estimates in that category with $65.2 million.

Tigers owner Mike Ilitch, co-founder of the Detroit-based Little Caesars pizza chain, bought the Tigers for $82 million in August 1992 from Tom Monaghan, founder of Ann Arbor-based Domino's Pizza.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story indicated the Tigers were eighth in operating income. They are eighth in revenue. This version of the story is correct.